Project ObjectiveThe overall objective of the project is to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation by providing access to clean and affordable drinking water, by avoiding untreated wastewater is led directly into the environment and by providing access to sanitation facilities for people in urban slum areas. The project will also improve livelihoods and micro-economies for traders and shoppers.

Description3Ws Innovative Water Solutions is a green growth business strategy contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation. 3Ws will green livelihoods and micro-economies by reducing CO2 and CH4 emissions through the reduction of charcoal consumption and avoiding untreated wastewater from entering waterways. 3Ws provides clean and affordable drinking water for people living in urban slum areas regardless of their income level. 3Ws will make available sanitation with showers, toilets and wastewater treatment. 3Ws is developed by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Aqua Unique Norge (AUN) as a public private partnership project.

The project will be implemented at Nakawa Market in Kampala. The market has 550 shops, 358 stalls and 1,000 sales pitches run by women vendors. Nakawa is visited by up to 40,000 people who shop for their daily needs. Nakawa market will host a water purification plant shower units with wastewater treatment facility. Water purification plant will use reverse osmosis, pre-media filtration and UV-disinfection. Water bagging offers hygienic and convenient method for distributing and storing drinking water packed in 0.5 litres bags. Recycling of water bags will be encouraged by offering free drinking water against return of empty bags. Better sanitation at the market will be provided by a shower unit for women/men consisting of 12 showers with hot and cold water and toilet facilities for women and men. Greywater from the showers will be reused for toilet flushing. Waste2energy i.e. biogas component will not be implemented at Nakawa site due to space limitation.

The project is expected to deliver the following main outputs:

(i) Establishment of a water purification system producing 110,000 litres of purified water daily and reducing charcoal consumption by 3,200 tonnes annually;(ii) Enhanced sanitation through the installation of showers and toilets at the market;(iii) Establishment of a wastewater treatment system that has the capacity to treat biologically 7,300 m3 of human wastewater annually; and(iv) Creation of 22 direct and 30 indirect jobs in the operation of the waste purification and wastewater treatment systems and as vendors of purified water.

Relevance for Climate ChangeUrban households in Kampala depend on charcoal for cooking food and boiling water. Around 4,730 tonnes of charcoal is sold every year at Nakawa contributing to deforestation and CO2 emissions. By offering clean drinking water for up to 55,000 people the project is expected to reduce charcoal consumption and preserve forests. The lowered charcoal consumption is estimated to reduce carbon emission with 9,604 tCO2e/a. According to KCCA its current wastewater treatment system does not have the capacity to treat the city’s wastewater and an undisclosed amount is discharged into waterways contributing to CH4 emissions. The sanitation and wastewater treatment system will offer improved sanitation and prevent that untreated wastewater is directed into waterways.

Innovation and Knowledge Transfer3Ws is an innovative green growth business strategy introducing clean water and sanitation for low-come groups. 3Ws goes beyond business as usual, since there is no company offering clean and affordable drinking water for people in urban slum areas in Uganda. 3Ws’ overall strength is that it utilises proven water purification and wastewater treatment technologies. It is foreseen that the NCF project can be replicated and upgraded into a complete 3Ws project integrating the water purification, wastewater treatment with a waste2energy component into one interlinked system. Energy would be utilized in water purification process. The innovativeness of the 3Ws concept lies in the unique management concept which capitalises from each system’s performance. The water purification plant will deliver capital for operation and maintenance as well as reinvestment into new 3Ws projects. The wastewater treatment system delivers greywater for operating the biogas digester. The waste to energy biogas system produces electricity for system operation and keeps operational cost at an absolute minimum.